You can't speed, even to pass

Q. Please clarify. My husband contends it is OK to exceed the speed limit when passing another car. Is this correct?

– Elaine McDonough, Fullerton

A. I hate to get in the middle of this, but I'm afraid Mr. McDonough is mistaken.

"Technically, the maximum speed limit is just that, the maximum, so a person cannot exceed it," says Officer Gabe Montoya from the California Highway Patrol headquarters in Irvine.

"A lot of times when we're writing a speeding citation, the motorist will say, 'I was just trying to get around that other car,'" continues Montoya. "To which I respond, 'Well, great, but you were still going over the speed limit while doing it.'"

Montoya added one other sobering thought, which quickly quashes any excuse for leaning on the gas when passing.

"Hardly anybody on the freeway is doing sixty-five to begin with, so everyone out there is speeding as it is," Montoya says.

Q. Car-pool lanes onto freeways are dangerous in that most car-poolers seem to feel they have the right to barrel along, forcing many a solo motorist who is just starting off on a green ramp-light to suddenly brake. The entrance to the eastbound Riverside (91) Freeway from northbound Glassell Street is particularly bad. Why have a car-pool lane anyway? Wouldn't a two-lane entrance requiring everyone to stop be safer?

– Elaine Endericks, Anaheim

A. According to at least one U.S. Department of Transportation engineer, high occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes get striped onto on-ramps for the same reason they get placed on the mainline freeway: to provide an incentive for car-pools and van-pools. HOV lanes move more people, as opposed to cars, so car-poolers get rewarded with a shortened duration of travel.

Because the federal Clean Air Act Amendments require such traffic mitigation strategies as HOV lanes, they aren't going away in the near future. However, if it's any consolation, car-poolers do not have the right to jeopardize the safety of those who opt to go it alone.

"Where there is no ramp meter for the HOV on-ramp lane, it's the responsibility of the party who is stopped at the signal light to merge in safely," says Montoya, the CHP officer.

"But if the car-pooler is roaring along at 50 mph and rear-ends the single-occupant vehicle, the car-pool-lane person could be found guilty in causing the accident."

Fact of the week: Ever heard the term "slugging" in reference to commuting?

Already prevalent in the San Francisco area, it's coming to Southern California.

Slugging refers to the impromptu creation of car-pools. Potential riders line up at an on-ramp or a toll plaza, and get picked up by the next solo motorist for the purpose of using the HOV lanes. Both parties benefit: The driver avoids congestion, and the rider can leave his or her car at home that day. No money changes hands.

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